Page 381 - The Book of Caterpillars: A Life-Size Guide to Six Hundred Species From Around the World

MOTH CATERPILLARS

FAMILY Saturniidae
DIS
TRIBUTION
DISTRIBUTION Guiano-Amazonian region, from Venezuela to Bolivia and Brazil
DISTRIBUTION
HABIT A T Tropical forests
HABITAT
HABITAT
HOST PLANTS S Unknown; in captivity has fed on Erythrina spp.
T PLANT
HOST PLANTS
HOS

TE
NO
NOTE Decorative and erce giant silkmoth caterpillar
NOTE
CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERVATION STATUS
CONSERV A TION S T A TUS Not evaluated
ADULT WINGSPAN
3¼–5¾ in (82–147 mm)
CATERPILLAR LENGTH
4¼ in (110 mm)
AUTOMERIS LARRA
AUTOMERIS LARRA 379
(WALKER, 1855)

The Automeris larra silkmoth caterpillar is large and intimidating
with a sting that can be quite painful. After hatching from one

of many white eggs, the rst stage of the caterpillar is white,
the second is black with white spines, and the remaining stages
are more recognizably green. The caterpillars group tightly The Automeris larra caterpillar is a rich orange
together when young and more loosely as they become mature. brown, paler on the dorsum, and covered with
tiny, pale orange dots. It has a decorative broad,
When they have finished feeding, they spin a thin, papery white lateral band half its body length, long,
cocoon wrapped in a leaf. orange-and-white, bristled spines near the head,
several similar, but white, spines on the rear
dorsum, and also smaller blue, bristled spines.
The head is orange.
The adult silkmoth can emerge within six to eight weeks,
although one pupa of a similar desert silkmoth species,
Hemileuca burnsi, is known to have lain dormant for nine years

before hatching. There are ve species similar to the Automeris
larra silkmoth distributed throughout much of tropical America
from Mexico to Bolivia—all cryptically colored with eyespots
on the hindwings and lea ike markings on the forewings. The

adults have no mouth for eating and die within a few days after
emerging from the cocoon, mating, and egg laying.

Actual size